Raison d'etre
by HoneyBMirriB
Summary: What if Severus hadn't been in love with Lily? What if there was a Marauder nobody talked about because of the pain? What if there was a different reason Severus joined Voldemort? What if Severus wasn't the only one in love? SS/OC SB/OC RL/OC JP/LE
1. Prologue

**This is came from an idea I had some three weeks ago, and I had started writing about her when Harry was fifteen but then I wanted to explore what made her so special and similar. **

**I think that Chiara holds a self-awareness that makes her this way. No way in hell am I like her, as much as I would like to be....anyways, here's Sirius to reset the record.**

**Sirius (puts an arm around Alessa and smiles, revealing pearly white teeth, making Alessa blush): As much as Alessa regrets it, she doesn't own any characters that you recognise, except Chiara and her family. But if she did own me, we'd be in the bedroom for a long, long time. ;)**

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**Origins**

This is the origins of Chiara Silvana DeFrancesco. Of a girl who sang and danced and loved with all of her heart. Perhaps I had hoped that one day, she would love me more than a friend, perhaps not.

Her parents named her after two of her ancestors, Saints Francis and Clare of Assisi, or as Chiara would emphasize in her Italian accent that sometimes disappeared as she learnt more and more English, _'I Santi Francesco e Chiara di Assisi'_ and gave her a middle name that fit her willowy yet petite stature perfectly. But from the portraits that I have seen in her house, she certainly resembled her ancestors to an extent.

She seemed to hold everything in her heart, the way she could make us all happy with a smile or start fussing over her with one tremble of her lower lip. Of course, Black, Lupin and I fussed over her at something as small as a sigh.

But she was the sun and I orbited her, powerless to break away, to do anything but watch her and secretly love her for the rest of my existance.

Rarely would I wax so poetically over someone, but maybe that's the point. Maybe the point was that she was so rare, so innocent and pure, yet so full of life and meaning, I would wax for hours on end, attempting to divine the true meaning and extent of my feelings for her, because I needed to know what made me love her more than anything in the universe.

My _raison d'etre_, my candle, my love.

_Severus Snape, Christmas Eve, 1981_.

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**So, what do you think? I have a basic plan of where this is going to go, but if you think of anything or just want to review, just shout or, even better, click the button just underneath this writing!**

**Alessa x**


	2. Meeting the Marauders

**Chapter 2 is up, and it's only taken…forever :) How about that? The next will be up quicker than last time. Also, the italics bits are Italian.**

**Not my creation except Chiara and family.**

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I shifted in my seat as I watched the parents bustling past the window of the compartment that I was sitting in, calling out to their children in such hurried English, that I couldn't understand what they were saying. Their calls were drowned out by the lively chatting of students passing by my compartment door, one or two students already changed. Did I need to be changed before we left? I wondered, a wave of anxiety sweeping through me.

I could see Mother and Father watching me from the centre of the crowd with identical smiles, Dante eyeing up a girl a few feet away from him, his eyes then flickering to me with a grin. I smiled back, giggling at his guilty expression as he realised that I had caught him out.

"_Be good._" He mouthed and I nodded. Of course. "_And no kissing boys!_" My ears went pink as I realised what he had mouthed. Father caught my expression and raised an eyebrow in Dante's direction. Another fit of giggles escaped me and I almost dropped my book, catching it just before it banged onto my knee.

"Excuse me, can we sit in here?" I turned suddenly to see two boys standing at the door, both eyeing me, one nervously, the other more keenly. I nodded, refusing to talk, lest my lack of English embarrass me.

He gave me an easy smile as he and the other boy entered, hauling their trunks onto the luggage rack, the one who had spoken helping the other. I allowed myself a moment to study them; one was tall with mid-brown hair and amber eyes, the other with mousy-brown hair and a pointed nose. "I'm Remus." He grinned and I found myself smiling back. "Oh, and this is Peter." The shorter boy waved at me shyly, grinning.

"Chiara DeFrancesco. I'm…new to Hogwarts, coming here from Beauxbatons." His eyebrows rose slightly with curiosity.

"Y-you don't sound English…?" Peter started hesitantly, as if scared that I would bite.

"No, I'm from _Italia_, a large city. Assisi?"

"Didn't you go there last month, Remus?" Peter asked his friend, watching me with an unrecognisable look in his eye. I turned to look at Remus, cocking my head curiously. "You have been to my…" I struggled to find the words, flicking through known English words in my head furiously.

"Home town?" Remus offered, as if he knew what I was thinking. The room became much hotter for a couple of moments as I nodded, embarrassed. "Yes. Sorry, my English isn't as good as _il_ _mio Italiano_."

"Don't worry," he grinned, his amber eyes sparkling as he grinned. "If you need anything to be translated either to or from Italian, you can talk to me. _I speak very good Italian_." My eyes widened, my heart pounding even harder than before.

"_Grazie_."

"Don't mention it. Anyway, yes, I went to Assisi over the summer – my parents wanted to do some travelling." There was tension in his face as he spoke, then he turned to Peter. "How's your sister?"

"Good, good." Peter replied hastily, nodding vigorously. "She's marrying Bastion Jones next year…" As Peter jabbered on, the tension had left Remus' face as we both listened to him, Remus more in depth than I.

There was an echoing whistle as doors started to slam, Paolo mewing in his cage. Turning back towards the window, I waved to my family once more, watching their happy faces as the train started to move. Mother blew a kiss, her cheeks looking suspiciously wet, and Dad put an arm around her, still waving to me, even as the train started to go around the bend.

Blinking furiously, I turned back to the other two, both of them watching me with concern. "Are you alright Chiara?" Remus asked me. I nodded, putting down my book and standing to check on Paolo.

"I am okay Remy." I replied distractedly, patting down my skirt out of sheer force of habit before lifting my kitten out of his cage. Remus' cheeks went red, as mine must've done as we all registered the nickname. "I am sorry, Remus is hard to-"

He smiled, looking bashful as I internally facepalmed. "It's okay. I like it. Chiri." He added mischievously and I couldn't help but laugh at his expression. I sat back down, letting Paolo rest on my lap and focusing on scratching him behind the ears for a second.

"REMUS!" A voice shouted out from the door, Pao digging his claws into my leg, making me wince before quickly disappearing under the seat. "Pao!" I called out as a hissing started in panicked bursts.

"Padfoot, you idiot." Remy sighed, and I frowned, not understanding the last word. "Are you okay Chiri? Where's your kitten?" His voice was suddenly drowned out by the loud singing of the two boys who had entered the compartment, who'd dropped themselves into the seats next to me. "AND I SAID, WHY DON'T YOU DO IT LIKE A HIPPOGRIFF-"

"Guys!" Remy kicked the dark-haired one as I dropped to my knees, looking for Paolo. "Can you not scare off Chiara?"

"Who?" One of the boys asked, as Remy moved so he was able to bend down next to me and swipe an arm under the seat, his face set in an expression that suggest that he was going to need healing. "Got him," Remy said as he handed me the trembling kitten. I smiled, thankful that Paolo wasn't crushed. "Thank you."

Remus and I looked up at the newcomers, then the one with glasses and sparkling eyes smiled apologetically at me. "Sorry. I'm James, and this is-"

"-Sirius Black, at your service." The other one –Sirius – held out his hand. Taking it carefully, I was surprised as he lifted it to his lips.

"Padfoot." James sighed half-exasperatedly, half-amused. "I believe that Moony said to _not_ scare her away?" I chuckled and sat back in my seat, placing the mewing kitten onto my seat before grasping onto Remy's wrists.

Moving his hands so I could see the cuts adorning his hands and wrists, I took out my wand. "Let me see. I know a…_incanto_ for _tagli_." At James and Sirius' "whaas?" of confusion, Remus translated.

"She knows a charm for cuts."

Tapping his hands once, I said quietly, aware of their eyes on me, "_Curae_," then his wounds disappeared. "_There you go_," I looked up at him and he smiled back at me.

"Thank you." He said and I folded my hands in my nap nervously, Paolo batting at them playfully.

"It's okay."

"Why can she use magic outside school?" James asked suddenly, the words making no sense to me. Sensing my confusion, Remus translated for me quickly.

"I'm not..._the government_..._the law, _law?" I looked to Remus for a moment for him to nod encouragingly, "it doesn't apply to me until…until we get to school because I come from Beauxbatons." Feeling proud with myself for having put together most of my answer into English, I was gratified as Sirius and James grinned mischievously at me.

"Lucky girl," Sirius said, before turning to James and questioning him about a girl called Lily, a large grin on his face even as he winked at me. I felt myself turn even redder and I picked up my temporarily-forgotten book, hiding myself behind it as I listened to their words in English, comparing it to what I already knew mentally.

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**Result! See you in a week (hopefully!)**


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